Fantasy Golf: Italian Open

The Rolex Series resumes this week at the Italian Open for a star-studded field that includes both Masters Champion Sergio Garcia and World No.5 Jon Rahm 

Following Tyrrell Hatton’s successful defense of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship last week at St Andrews, defending Italian Open Champion Francesco Molinari will be hoping to please the home crowds once more.

Last year, Molinari became the first Italian to win the event twice in European Tour history, but with the likes of Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia, Alex Noren and Tommy Fleetwood in the field – it’s set to be a tough contest for him to take the title home for a second time.

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Played right next to the famous Monza racetrack in Parco di Monza, Golf Club Milano made an impressive return to the European Tour in 2015 after a 24-year absence and this is the ninth time the tournament well be held here. Once again, the event will be played over a composite course comprising the nine-hole Red and Yellow courses at a 27-hole venue, which is a relatively flat classic parkland featuring mature pine trees and small greens well protected by greenside bunkers.

But who should be in your fantasy team this week? Remember you’ve got until midnight on Wednesday to chance your team!

Fantasy Golf picks: Italian Open

Sergio Garcia: Fantasy Price £14.5m
Garcia hit the headlines on Monday when it was announced his deal with TaylorMade had ended, but the Masters champion has had a very successful season – which includes two titles. He missed the cut in his last event at the British Masters, but prior to that had just had a T10 at the Tour Championship at East Lake. Two top 10s in his last eight starts.

Alex Noren: Fantasy Price £13m
He missed the cut last week, but Noren had had two T6 finishes in his last four starts prior the Dunhill so he’s still a good bet this week. He’s not played a huge amount of events in 2017 – but he did win the first of the Rolex Series events back during the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. His last 9 starts? MC-T6-T67-T28-T27-T10-MC-T15-1st

Tyrrell Hatton: Fantasy Price £13
Hatton will be spurred on by his impressive defense of his Dunhill Links title last week, where he barely put a foot wrong. He also led the way over the first two days of the British Masters at Close House, but despite a final round 69 he wasn’t able to catch Dunne – finishing T8. A T3 at the European Masters the week prior gives him three top 10s in his last three starts, so he’s clearly on a run of good form.

Francesco Molinari: Fantasy Price £12
It’s been a good run for defending champions, with both Hatton and Brendan Steele defending their titles last week – so why not another? Molinari finished 12th in his last event (the BMW Championship), and despite two off weeks, he was 2nd a few weeks before at the PGA Championship. His last five results: T12-T61-MC-T2-T24

Shane Lowry: Fantasy Price £12m
Lowry is another one who has had a very varied season, but a couple of solid performances in the past few weeks indicate his game is getting back to it’s best. A T7 at the Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour was followed by a T29 at the Portugal Masters, a T7 at the British Masters and a T25 at last weeks Dunhill.

Jon Rahm: Fantasy Price £12m
Rahm has been a threatening figure all-year, and with a victory on both PGA and European Tours in his first full year on Tour- the World No.5 comes in to this event as a real favourite. He’s the highest ranked player in the field and with three top 5s and a T7 in his last four starts, he’s taken his top 10 count of 2017 up to 11. We won’t be betting against him!

Matthew Fitzpatrick: Fantasy Price £11.5m
Fitzpatrick is having a strong end to what has otherwise been a very mixed season, but given that the World no.35 finished 11th at the British Masters, won the European Masters and finished 15th last week – we reckon he has a strong chance of finishing high up the leaderboard in Italy.

Paul Dunne: Fantasy Price £6m
Dunne moved up almost 100 World Ranking spots from 187 to 88th after his win at the British Masters – and given his T7 finish at the Dunhill Links last week it’s certainly not unfathomable that he could win again. His last six results? T7-1st-T14-T70-T14-T9

Others to consider + their last few results

Martin Kaymer (£11.5m) : T36-T20-MC-T31-T37

Tommy Fleetwood (£10.5): T25-MC-T61-T28-T27-T10

Victor Dubuisson (£10.5): T3-WD-T12-MC-T31-T17

David Lingmerth (£10.5m): T4-T20-MC-T29-T63-T27

Ross Fisher (£10m): T2-MC-31-MC-MC

Graeme McDowell (£9m): T15-T44-MC-MC-MC-T19

Stephen Gallacher (£6m): T12-T15-WD-T20-T43